Saving the youth

Youth in the community shared their thoughts about the uptick in gun violence and how adults can prevent a life from being lost to a gun.

They shared their thoughts during the 10th edition of tne Alachua County Empowerment Revival that began last Wednesday night with a session billed as “Boys and Girls Night Out” at DaySpring Baptist Church in northeast Gainesville.

One of the highlights of the session was Eastside High School student Jonia Stover reciting her poem titled, “Eyes.” The poem describes the pain the community feels when someone loses their life to gun violence.

“Tragedy caused by stereotypical descriptions,” Stover said. “People say what happened and not why it happened.”

A panel discussion during the event included University of Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson, a graduate of Eastside High School and member of DaySpring; DaySpring member Sam Means; Williams Temple Church of God in Christ member Eunice B. Davis; Eastside student Timothy Hawkins and Landy Tyler, a member of New Beginning Worship Center in Micanopy.

The discussion was moderated by Bishop Christopher Stokes of New Beginning.

“Discipline, structure, responsibility, accountability and leadership is what the young people need,” Hawkins said. “People need to stand on their feet to show them the proper way of life. Proper guidance and teaching turned me away from that [negative] part of life.”

Hawkins and Means agreed that music and social media can be a bad influence on the youth.

“We need to dare our children to dream again,” Means said. "Children are going to seek opportunities to express themselves. They will choose a leader and we have to present good leaders.”

The youth need to feel accepted in their household and the community to avoid seeking love from negative influences, Richardson said.

“With there being a lack of leadership, the youth will find a sense of belonging in the wrong things,” Richardson said. “People don’t have a family at home, so they are finding homes in gangs. Try to relate to them. Once you relate to them, they can trust you more. Taking in what society puts out can be dangerous to our minds.”

Stokes, Tyler and Davis talked about how teaching children to do right starts in the home.

“They took prayer out of the school but they never took it out of your homes,” Stokes said.

Being there for children is important in order for them to stay on the right path, Davis said.

“The best we can do is pray and put ourselves in position and show them that we care about them,” Davis said.

The discussion ended with remarks and solutions from the audience that included creating trade school and youth financial literacy programs in the church and community.

“Please give our young people the wisdom to know better,” said Karen Cole-Smith, a member of the revival team, during her opening prayer. “Give them the spirit of excellence and the talents and smarts to uplift our communities.”

She also prayed for protection for the youth in the community.

“Bless them and cover them and protect them,” Cole-Smith said. “When they are tempted, help them overcome them. Let them know that even if they are not praying for themselves, we are praying for them. Continue to allow our young people to flourish.”

The youth in attendance also received encouragement from local resident Davin "Flip" Woody, who presided over the session.

“Realize that you are special, loved and needed,” Woody said. “Know that we cannot do without you.”

There were remarks from Alachua County School Board members Leanetta McNealy, Ph.D., and Tina Certain; Alachua County NAACP President Evelyn Foxx and Lonnie Scott, interim chief of the Gainesville Police Department..

“We have children that need to be saved,” Scott said. “We have people waiting on the sideline to do something until it happens to their family.”

It will take everyone to come together to solve the issue, Scott said.B

“It is hard to tell a parent that their child will not be coming back home,” Scott said. “I don’t want to see that again. This is not a police problem or a lack and white problem. This is a community problem.”

Scott promised to give the youth in attendance $100 if they submit a report card with all A’s for a semester.

“If I believe in you don’t you think the least you can do is believe in yourself,” Scott said. “Don’t see the police department as separate from the community. I am a father, a grandfather, a brother and an uncle.”

Samuel Seales Jr., pastor of Johnson Chapel Baptist Church, gave the closing prayer.

“Empower us to do the things we need to help our community and nurture our young people and bring them up the way they should go,” Seales said. “If we don’t have love for one another, nothing will get done.”

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Boys and Girls Night Out session of the Alachua County Empowerment Revival focused on gun violence